Svx Production Numbers Etc
 

Out of curiosity does anyone know ;

a) How many SVX's Subaru actually made and of these
1) How many were UK registered ? and any guesstimates of the number still on the road ?
2) Where were they sold and in what numbers ?

There seems no sign of the SVX getting classic status , it richly deserves !

You could run some searches on this. The numbers have been discussed before, many times.

From memory, there were approx 250 sold new in the UK, something similar in Australia. In the USA, probably about 14000 sold. Run a Google on Joe Spitz Seattle, you will find Subaru of America figures.

Jamsvx if he sees this would probably have a good idea of worldwide sales.

If anybody knows a DBA or admin in the DVLA, what would be very interesting to find out is how many SVXs were imported grey market into the UK. Also, it would be possible to determine how many SVXs are currently registered. This figure would give a good estimate on how many original UK cars are on the roads, how many imports. Anybody got a mole in the DVLA?

The value of SVXs in the US seems to be rising a little, for good cars. My gut feel is the value of SVXs in the UK will not rise until the flow of s/h cars from Japan slows up or dries up. This could be soon.

Anybody got any opinions on this?

Joe

Svx Numbers
 

Joe hia and happy new year ! Will do a search re numbers. It amazes me that when you see the car programmes such as Used Car Roadshow when Jap coupes are being discussed you never ever see a SVX mentioned ! I cannot believe how good our SVX is and the looks it gets / comments are spot on. All it takes is as you say the supply of grey imports to dry up ( there seem to be very few SVX's on Ebay etc compared to early 2005 as a benchmark, wrong as it may be) or one of the magazines to hit upon them and the secret may just leak out !!! I'm not looking to make money just to hope that ours holds it value reasonably.

Worldwide sales were 25,000. :) :)

Maine Rd Happy Returns!;) :D

Earl's figure throws up an interesting comparison with my post:

If you take US sales at 14,000 [and why not? it's probably correct...:) ], UK at 250ish, Australia at 250ish. Now add in Germany at 250ish [if you know different, please chime in with the correct figure:p ], possibly Rest of Europe 250ish.

All of this adds up to only 15,000 out of 25,000 total. Now, I know I left out a couple of important rhd ones like NZ and SA, but even taking world-wide sales into account at the sort of low sales we are discussing here, and it has to mean that Fuji sold possibly 8 thousand or 9 thousand SVXs in the home market.

This in turn may mean that there will be a regular supply of SVXs from the JDM market into all rhd markets for a little while yet, thus keeping prices from rising.

I could be wrong about this, but that's how the picture looks to me.:(

Joe

Total JDM sales were 5800.

JDM production figures:

VL 1900 (91/09-93/11)
VE 2200 (91/09-93/11)
S40 300 (93/11-94/06)
S40II 300 (94/07-94/10)
S3 500 (94/11-95/06)
S4 600 (95/07-96/11)

In 2003 there were less than 2000 still registered in Japan. Most early models would have been "crushed" into scrap metal by now.

Thanks Paddles

That does put a different complexion on it. JDM sales were close to 6000, rather than the 8000 I was estimating in my rough calculation.

And if there were less than 2000 cars in Japan in 2003, then that figure would be far less now, so they are now definitely getting scarce.

I suspect that like my Plum, of the 4000 JDM cars "missing" between 91 and 03, a good few would have been exported in good condition to RHD markets. This would swell the figures on the roads in UK and Australia say. It's very possible that there are now more SVXs on the roads of the UK than were originally registered, even allowing for the attrition of crashes and scrapping.

It would be interested if we could get some information about this from the DVLA.

Thanks Paul

Joe.:)

Hi guys

25,000 was my recollection too (I think we did a rough exercise on the numbers about 3 or 4 years ago and came up with something in that ballpark).

We were in Russia over the Christmas and I kept a keen out for SVX's but did not see any - did manage to see one in Verona, Italy and in Brugge, Belgium - drives Cassie up the wall when I suddenly run off down a street hollering like a loon as I pull out my camera.

When no one is around, I talk to them but that's a secret.....ssssssssssssshhhhh!!;)

I did see quite a few W140 series S class coupes which are as rare as hens teeth - the snow and salt would destroy cars there though (Moscow and St Petersburg)

Paddles, that is so depressing - very very sad. How are things in Japan?

Cheers
James

Hi James

Good to hear from you. Hope you and Cassie enjoy your trip to the States next month.

As a BTW, have you any view on the paint codes we are discussing in a couple of other threads? Like in http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=30550
and
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=30141

Paddles has informed me that JDM paint codes tend to be two numbers only, such as 035 for Ebony Mica.
Most of us show 235 for Ebony Mica. This may well be an export designation, and the majority of people have the Ebony Mica with the red tint deep in the paint.

Many people have seen Ebony Mica with a green mica base in the paint, but we are so far unsure what is the paint code for this green-based black paint.

Were you aware of it's existence? Any ideas?

Joe:)

It's Only A Number
 

Would be good to see if Subaru could confirm total sales. Prising DVLA open to see how many SVX's there on UK roads or on SORN would be good to know, anyone a mole in DVLA ? Seems to me havig watched that good old barometer , Ebay lol , that over the last 12 months the number of SVX's for sale has dropped. I bought mine end of 2004 and early part of 2005 there were several , now you rarely see one for sale. Maybe people holding on to them or less JDM cars coming in to the country. There should be a way of telling how many come in each yr as there will be stats to show this but what to what level of detail I don't know !

Hi Joe

I think Moshol in the Down Under forum (if she is reading this!) should be able to give the AU paint code as she has a green SVX - Australia got only one green (was a brighter green) compared to other markets where there was darker, more British Racing Green colour, in the States for example but I think maybe 4 or 5 tops were sold in that colour (that was post 1995 when SVX sales approached single digits).

With the Australian black cars, it was a different colour to that of the JDM black car (of which I have seen only, a JDM 4ws import that was sold to someone in Canberra) - the cars sold new were more of a solid black but I don't have any contact details with me here in Blighty - the fellow that I am thinking of may have sold the car, given how many have offloaded them back home in recent times!

I had tried to get Subaru Australia to help out with the Australian sales figures, breakdown and colour split but never heard back from them - now they seek an SVX for their collection! Grrrrrrrrrr

Cheers

James

what do all those letters and numbers mean before the dates?

VL model, 1900 made, dates of production.
VE model, 2200 made, dates of production.
etc

White Plains Drifter
 

These are the JDM versions and the numbers produced of each between the dates.

For example, VL 1900 implies 1900 units of Version L were produced at this time.
Incidentally, the Version L model, with chassis designation CXD, was the only fully featured variant in Japan. It had the all singing, all dancing active 4ws chassis, plus automatic lights, plus leather, plus cruise, plus ABS plus airbag etc etc. When Version L stopped, there were no more active rear steer cars. So I guess one of these would be the obvious one to collect and put in storage, if you expected rarity to add value as time goes on.

Check the Japanese versions on James' website:http://www.geocities.com/jamsvx/versions.html

:)

Thanks James

I am not so interested in looking for the codes on green cars, we actually have got a good handle on the names and codes of these.

It IS interesting to hear that the Aus black was different than the JDM one. It seems to me that the code 035 in Japan is the same paint as 235 in the UK and 235 in the States. This paint has very fine red mica particles in it, which can only be seen under strong sunlight at the correct angle.

What we are trying to determine is the colour code for another variant of this paint, which has very fine green mica particles in it, in place of the red mica that most cars have.

They seem to have this paint in the US on some cars, although it is proving difficult to get the owners of these cars to give a reliable account of the paint code. But in fairness to them, most people only see their cars as black cars. Many have them for years and years, and are unaware that the majority of black cars have a red mica component.

Subaru of Australia do seem to be a pain in the shon.

Joe:)